


A Hero and a Villain

by ThatRavenclawBitch



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 02:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3633906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRavenclawBitch/pseuds/ThatRavenclawBitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An almost fluffy one shot take on how the season 4 finale could go if Rumbelle weren't the angst fueled beast it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hero and a Villain

He finds himself back at the Dark Castle and after a few days it’s as though he’s never left. It’s as if the past thirty years have all been some fever dream. That the curse had never been cast, that he’d never found Baelfire, that Belle had never come back only to leave him again. He supposes, in this universe, it’s the truth. The author has reworked the story, given the villains their happy endings.

All but one.

Regina is with her thief, happy in true love and unaware of the part of her heart that is missing now, the part clearly labeled  _Henry_. Maleficent was able to keep her child, raising her in darkness until the child surpassed the mother. And Rumplestiltskin sits in his castle, amid all his things, alone.

He’s not quite sure why he remembers, unable to reconcile yet another spate of memories on top of the ones he already has. He remembers the original timeline, remembers betraying Belle and breaking her heart. Remembers the feel of his son’s last dying breaths panting out in the cool forest air. He remembers the imprisonment, his death, the vault. He remembers it all.

But on top of it, there are new memories. Without Regina’s thirst for revenge, he lost his curse caster. He attempted to use Zelena until he realized there was nothing the woman loved, no heart she could use that would enact the curse. He cut her loose and she fled to Oz. So Rumplestiltskin waits, to this day, looking for someone twisted and desperate enough to enact something so dark. Rumplestiltskin has hopes for a girl named Emma, a girl twisted by the darkness of her mother, the Evil Queen. The Savior in one timeline is the doom of another.

Baelfire, Neal, is still alive, but unreachable just as always.

And then there’s Belle. Beautiful, wonderful Belle. He didn’t claim her as his price in this timeline. That was the only thing he asked of the author, in the end. He still saved her kingdom, only took something less special this time. He left her behind in her golden dress with her sparkling eyes following him around her father’s war room with interest even then. He never spoke a word to her; let her be shuffled behind that bumbling fool of a fiancé. And then he took his leave without sparing her a glance.

She would never know him. She would never love him. It was the happiest ending he could ensure her.

And so the days stretch on for him now. Knowing what he does of the original timeline, he’s in no rush to find his son any longer. He knows that magic has a price, and he’s unwilling for Baelfire to pay it. As long as he leaves him alone in the Land Without Magic, he knows he’s alive. He would rather never see his son again than watch him die in his arms one more time.

He will not see Bae again. He will not see Belle again. They are better off that way.

The days continue, running on and on until Rumplestitlskin can no longer remember which timeline was the true one as he watches the wheel beneath his scaled hands. Had he ever known Belle? Is she just a dream, something drawn up by his addled mind to give him comfort? He has no way of knowing for sure.

But one day, as he sits, spinning always spinning, he feels it. There is a pulse, a burst of magic encompassing the land. He does not know who is responsible and he cannot find it in himself to care. If someone has found their true love, found their happy ending, then good for them. He hopes they can hold on to it in a way he never could. 

“So this is your happy ending, then?” comes a familiar voice from behind him. He spins around on the stool beside the spinning wheel, hardly daring to believe his eyes. It was real after all.

“Belle?” he manages to rasp out. She is standing in the doorway to the Great Hall, her arms crossed against her chest. She looks angry. If she had magic, sparks would be emitting from her fingertips. It’s been so long since he’s elicited any emotion from her other than sadness that he’s happy to take it. “How are you here?”

“Henry,” she says, walking further into the hall. He stands from his stool, the need to see her up close too great to deny.

“Henry is still alive?”

She nods, continuing to make her way toward him. She is pale, thinner than he remembers but still so beautiful it leaves him breathless.

“The author can’t change the past,” she explains. “He could only create another reality for us, one where things happened differently. But our true reality still exists. That’s where Henry came from.”

“How?” he asks.

“He found Regina,” she says with a shrug. “He convinced her to put things back. Regina sacrificed her happy ending.”

He simply nods. Regina’s happy ending was a farce anyway so long as she didn’t have her son. Rumplestiltskin knows the truth of that. He could never be happy, not truly. Not with Bae dead and buried. He could only try.

“So was this your happy ending?” she repeats her question, standing directly in front of him now, her back straight and her head held high.

“No,” he admits. “It’s not.”

“You didn’t name me as your price,” she says flatly. “Not in this version.”

“No,” he says again.

“Why?”

“I thought you’d be happier if we’d never met,” he says with a shrug, not able to meet her steady gaze any longer. “I thought you might still meet your thief, if you’re truly meant to be.”

“Will?” she asks with surprise. “If the villains had their happy endings, I assume he’s in Wonderland with Anastasia. His True Love.”

Rumple only nods again, staring down at his feet, his black nailed fingers rubbing against each other anxiously. He never expected Belle to remember. He never anticipated seeing her again. He’s not sure what to do now.

“When given the option of your happy ending, you gave it up instead,” Belle says with measured words. “Why?”

“Because I wanted you to be happy,” he sighs. “Even if that wasn’t with me.”

Tears spring to her eyes and she turns away, staring at the tapestry on the far wall.

“Why did you come back?” he asks, flinching at the familiarity of the words once they leave his mouth. There was no evil queen to convince her this time. No quest to rid the beast of his curse. She is not here to bestow True Love’s Kiss upon him. He’s not sure why she is here.

“Because I love you,” she says with a roll of her eyes. As if this should still be obvious to him even after everything else.They are words he never expected to hear from her lips again. Words he never thought to hear from anyone again. They leave him quite breathless.

“You died for us,” she continues, the tears swimming in her eyes magnifying them until he’s completely immersed in the clear blue of her irises. “And I brought you back. You didn’t ask for that, but I wanted you back. I wanted my happy ending so badly that I lost you yours. You lost Baelfire.”

“I don’t blame you for that,” he protests, stepping toward her tentatively. “I could never blame you for that.”

“I know,” Belle cries. “You never blame me for anything, that’s part of the problem.”

He just looks at her, shocked, unable to process what she’s saying.

“I’m not a hero,” she says, shaking her head sadly. Before he can protest she continues, “And you’re not a villain. We’re just people going through life, trying to do the best we can. Some days we fail and some days we succeed. But holding ourselves to these standards, it’s…toxic.”

She leaves off, her chest heaving and her eyes bright.  

“In the midst of all this, you forgot something important, Rumple,” she continues with a shake of her head. “No one decides our fate but us. No author can pigeonhole us, no one can tell us what we are. And what I am is a woman who loves a flawed man. You might never be a hero, and that’s okay. I don’t need to be your savior, I just need to be your wife.”

The words are a balm, to hear her refer to herself as his wife again. It’s been so long, too long. But he cannot let her come back to him. He cannot let her choose him. It will only hurt her again.

“Belle, I’m not a good man.”

“I know,” she agrees. “But you’re not a bad one either.”

“I’m afraid I am,” he rasps out.

She shakes her head with a sad smile. “You gave up your happy ending in hopes I would find mine. But you failed to realize something, Rumple.”

“What’s that?” he asks tentatively, almost afraid of the answer.

“You’re my happy ending, you idiot!”

Before he can react, she’s thrown herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. It’s all he can do to stay upright, gripping on to her with equal fervor. He’s missed her so much. He’s treated her so badly. He’s let his thirst for power and his fear of being without it get in the way for too long. In the end, everything he needs, all he wants in the world, is right here in his arms.

With that in mind, he cups her cheek, turning her face up to his.

“I love you,” he whispers. “And I’m ready.”

Belle looks adorably flummoxed before he bends his head to hers, kissing her softly, chastely. It’s barely a brush of lips before he can feel the rippling across his skin as his curse flees in the face of their love.

“What’s happening?” Belle gasps, pulling back.

He looks down at her with brown eyes, human eyes.

“Kiss me again,” he says with a smile. “It’s working.”


End file.
